The Lost Goddess Chronicles
by Angel of the woods
Summary: A young woman...a Med-jai leader...a mummy...the Lord of Chaos...and a love that will last for all of eternity. Ardeth/OC


Chapter 1 Of Shopping and Sand Pennsylvania Winter 2008

A young woman sat in the shoe store staring at the heels in front of her trying to find the lowest priced heel in the store that was actually the style that she wanted. The young woman sighed as her younger cousin walked up to her arms piled high with shoeboxes. "Having trouble finding a pair of shoes Mia?" she asked glancing at the heels the young woman was staring at.

"Yeah," Amelia Whitlock said as she stood up from the bench she was sitting on, picking up the shoebox that held the boots that she was getting and glancing at the display rack again.

Suddenly she froze staring at a pair of brown shoes that seemed to speak to her.

"Oh!" she gasped stretching a hand out toward the shoe on the rack.

Picking it up Amelia examined it thoroughly. It was a simple heel with a rounded toe and brown laces. Amelia skipped over that fact because what was practically making her bounce off the walls of the store was that it looked like it had been made in the 1920s instead of in 2008. Glancing at the price she nearly fainted when she saw that the price of the shoe was within her budget. Amelia ran her eyes down the shoeboxes stacked in front of her and grinned when she found the pair of heels in a size 9. Grabbing the box she sat down again before setting her boots down on the bench next to her. Opening the box Amelia pulled out the heels and tugged one onto her left foot before tying it. Tugging the right heel on Amelia tied it before extending her feet and looking at the heels on them. Standing up she walked experimentally up and down the aisle before walking past her cousin and pacing up and down the outer aisle.

"These are perfect," Amelia said grinning at her cousin who grinned back. "I'm definitely getting them and the boots."

Her cousin grinned at her as Amelia took the heels off and placed them in their box before pulling her regular shoes on. Picking up the two boxes she headed for the register where she set the boxes down and pulled her wallet out of her purse.

"Here you go miss," the clerk said handing the shoe bag to Amelia. "Have a nice day."

"Thank you," Amelia said smiling as she took the bag before turning toward the door. "You too."

Stepping outside of the store she felt a tugging sensation at the back of her navel.

"What's up?"

"I don't know," Amelia said frowning in confusion as shifted the bag to her other hand. "I think that I ate something really weird for lunch."

"But all you ate for lunch was a slice of pizza," Annetta said frowning at the ground. "What did you have on the pizza?"

When Annetta looked up Amelia was gone.

*****************

Amelia was in fact taking a portkey eighty-two years to the past. Now one would think that anyone who had read any of the Harry Potter books would find it very calming to take a portkey to a different place. They would have thought wrong. A witch or wizard who has taken a portkey before knows that the experience can be a bit unsettling even if you are expecting it. A person who has read about, but never experienced traveling by portkey, would find it downright frightening. They would also be screaming their heads off as well. That's what Amelia was doing right now. Though of course she was alternating between screams of fright and all the curse words in her vocabulary and yelling random words in the various languages that she knew. Despite the fact that she was cursing her head off she could see the ground rushing straight toward her. She screamed louder than she had on the journey here and threw her arms up in front of her face squeezing her eyes shut. When she didn't slam into the ground Amelia cracked an eye open, peeking out between her arms. The ground was less than an inch away from her face. Suddenly she was upright and swaying the tiniest bit from the journey.

"Excuse me miss."

Reacting purely on instinct Amelia whipped around pinning the speaker to the wall behind them with an arm at her throat. The young woman stared at her alarmed, green eyes wide with surprise. Amelia felt her own eyes widen in surprise as well as she quickly removed her arm from the young woman's throat.

"Sorry ma'am," Amelia said apologetically as she took a step away from the young woman. "That was purely instinctual."

"That is all right," the young woman said cocking her head to the side curiously. "You're not from around here are you?"

"No ma'am," Amelia said shaking her head. "I just got here. One minute I'm with my cousin shopping for shoes, the next I'm here talking to you. Wherever here is."

"You are in Egypt."

"Egypt? As in Cleopatra, Rameses the Second, and Tutankhamen's Egypt?"

"You know your history!"

"I get the rulers mixed up. Though Cleopatra was a descendant of one of Alexander the Great's generals. A Ptolemy I believe."

"That is correct. And yes that Egypt."

Amelia blinked, blinked again, and then promptly fainted.

*****************

Six minutes later Amelia's eyes fluttered open to a view of the young woman's concerned face.

"Are you all right?" the young woman asked.

"I think so," Amelia muttered struggling to sit up. "What happened?"

"You fainted."

Amelia blinked.

"I fainted?"

"Have you been anywhere hotter than a hundred degrees?"

"Does Florida count?"

"Not really."

"Oh."

"Do you have some place to stay?"

"No ma'am."

"Then you can stay with my brother and I."  
"I don't want to intrude on you and your brother's home."

"Nonsense. You are in desperate need of shelter and have no way of providing for it."

"Then thank you ma'am."

The young woman sighed laying her forehead into her palm.

"Please stop calling me "ma'am" it makes me feel old," she said looking up at Amelia.

"Than what should I call you?" Amelia asked curious making the young woman blush a bright red.

"How rude of me," she said her face still red as she held out her hand to Amelia. "I'm Evelyn Carnahan. And you are?"

"A pleasure Miss Carnahan. I'm Amelia Whitlock," Amelia said taking Evelyn's hand and giving it a firm shake.

"Very nice to meet you Miss Whitlock," Evelyn said smiling.

"Well, well. Lookie what we have 'ere boys."

Amelia and Evelyn both jumped in shock as three rough looking men stepped into the alleyway with them.

"Looks ta me like they is lost. What da ya think Bud?" asked the first one sneering at the two young women standing in front of them.

"I's thinkin' your right Cad. How about you Ed?" the one called Bud said turning to the third man in the group.

Ed gave a nasty laugh as he leered at both Amelia and Evelyn who backed up till their backs hit the wall behind them.

"S-stay back," Evelyn stammered her eyes wide with fear. "I-I-I know how to b-b-break b-b-bones."

Amelia rolled her eyes as she shoved her bags into Evelyn's arms.

"Here hold these," she muttered as she rolled up her sleeves making the men in front of them laugh.

"What are ya gonna do? Fight us?" Cad asked laughing.

"No just you," Amelia said grinning in a feral manner.

Cad grinned as he rolled up his sleeves before putting his fists up in front of his face. Suddenly he was flat on his back staring up at the sky with Amelia smirking down at him. Growling he scrambled back onto his feet and this time studied how Amelia moved. Amelia balanced on the balls of her feet ready to move at a moment's notice. Cad lunged for her waist but Amelia spun out of the way bringing her knee up into his gut and the edge of her hand on the back of his neck. He was flat on the ground again.

"Give up?" Amelia asked grinning as she crouched down to his level.

"Never," he snarled as he lunged for her.

Amelia jumped away from him watching calmly as he scrambled once again to his feet. Amelia studied Cad and noted that he didn't really know how to fight. He was all talk and no fight. Normally Cad could get what he wanted through bullying because people tended to let him and his gang walk all over them. And now that someone had finally stood up to him, he didn't really know what to do. He had never fought a fair fight just knocking heads together but now that he was up against someone who knew how to fight and fight well he was just about to piss his pants.

"C'mon Cad!" Bud shouted encouragingly. "Give 'er a right hook!"

Poor Cad had no idea what a right hook was. Probably because he had never seen one or dealt one. But luckily he was just about to learn how to because seconds later Amelia dealt him a right hook that snapped his head back throwing him off balance. While he was stumbling around she hooked her foot behind his knee bringing him down. Once he was on the ground Amelia calmly planted a foot on his neck.

"Now how about letting Miss Carnahan and I leave right now and, unless you want another lesson about manners, don't follow us. Because I won't be so merciful next time," Amelia said glaring at the other two men who were looking freaked out before turning to Evelyn with a grin. "Shall we Evelyn?"

"Yes we shall," Evelyn said returning the grin before the two girls walked out of the alleyway leaving the three men staring after them dumbfounded.


End file.
